The reign of Queen Anne, was a period in which the English arms made a respectable figure in Europe during the continuance of the war, and her councils, like those of a succeeding reign, a very pitiful one at the end; our trade still increased, and with it, our public debt. The greatest part of the reigns of the two first Georges contained little remarkable. In reading their histories we meet with none of those actions that raise and elevate the soul, and make us wonder at the power that executed them.
der will please to observe how modestly our author has convinced us of his abilities: in the first he has proved his judgement; in the second his politeness; and in the third his discretion; yet never once made a mention of his own abilities, but left it to us to form our opinion from his works. However meritorious he may be in this respect, he is certainly guilty of one great deviation from the moderns, for they would have talked about their merit for a twelvemonth, and we might have required a whole century before we found it out.
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